Hear me! The High Seraph Ultima lay slain, and the Lucavi with her. The Heretic Ramza stands victorious, his fate uncertain. King Delita reigns over Ivalice, hands bloody from countless betrayals. And Queen Ovelia lays in blood, last victim of the new King.
Yet my job continues, for the Jobs are unending and call for me.
For this entry we'll talk about the purveyours of fouls arts... (*check notes*) the valiant wielders of great magic of Ivalice, the ones that can wield both destructive and restorative spells.
A bit of history before we go on. The idea of "versatile" caster, one that can use both offensive and defensive/restorative magic, is something the FF series features since the beginning. While their effectiveness varies by the game, their closest incarnation in FFT, the Arithmectician, is noted to be a little bit too strong.
So what does FFTA to bring foward this archetype and not make it too ovepowering? Due to Jobs being tied to each race and wanting to give each race options, FFTA has not one, not two but four casters that can employ both offensive and defensive magic.
The first one we'll see is a great classic of the FF series, the Red Mage. After their absence from FFT (once againg,
unless you mod the game) the Red Mage returns as a Job for the Viera race.
A versatile Job through and through, the Red Mage has mediocre HP and MP, ok Attack and Magic, low Defense and Resitance and ok Speed. They can equip hats, clothers, robes, hair ornaments (think Ribbons and the like) and use Rapiers as weapons, a nod to the classic Red Mage using swords.
The spells at their disposal embody the idea of versatility: they get attack spells in Fire, Blizzard and Thunder, healing with Cure, defense with Barrier (Protect+Shell) and status effects with Sleep and Poison. But the ability that sets Red Mages apart is the famous Doublecast: an ability that lets you cast 2 spells with one action. To compensate for the low power of their spells Red Mages can learn the Magic Power+ Support ability. They also have the Catch Reaction ability, though its usefulness is debatable. Now, this being FFTA some combinations possible in previous games (e.g. Doublecast Time or Black Magic) can't be done here since Jobs are race-locked and Vieras don't have access to all Magic. That said Vieras do have access to both Spirit Magic (from the Elementalist, the next Job we'll see) and Summon Magic, and both of those work with Doublecast. Thus a rather potent combination is Summoner/Red Mage (or the opposite), that combines the already strong Summons with the ability to cast 2 of them in the same turn, and what Summons can't do (very little TBH) Red Magic covers. Also the Red Mage has surprising high Attack for a caster, so melee is an option if the situations warrants it.
Tactics A2 changes things around not by much: the stats are kept similar, while abilities shuffle a bit. Red Mages lose access to Barrier, Sleep and Poison, but gain Protect, Shell and Silence. This is tied to the new Green Mage Job, so when you learn one of these abilities (from either Job) you'll have access to them both in the Red Magic and Green Magic skillsets. The MP changes do impact Red Mages a bit less than others, since generally Red Magic has low MP costs, but Doublecast now has to be used more sparingly and Doublecasting Summons becomes challenging. There are ways around this limitation (and we'll see one of them), but you can't just repeat the same FFTA strategies and expect them to work the same.
Next on our list we have another Viera job, the Elementalist. In many ways this Job is similar to the Red Mage: same HP, more MP, same Attack, Defense and Resistance, a bit more Magic and a bit less Speed. Even in equipment we have mostly the same ones: Rapiers, clothes, robes, hats and ornaments. The Elementalist though gets to use shields to help the not exactly stellar defenses.
The interesting part is of course the abilities. Elementalists use Spirit Magic (Elemental Magick in FFAT2), a suite of single-target spells of various elements that often feature a status effect rider; think something like the Ninja's Veils. These spells have low-ish power (about the same as base Black or White Magic), but make up for it by being able to hit otherwise less accessible weaknesses. We start with Fire Whip, a fire spell that can inflict Disable. Then we have the 2 healing spells: Earth Heal is a earth-elemental single target healing spell, while White Flame is fire-elemental and is notably the only AoE the Elementalist has. There's Shining Air (wind element, can inflict Blind), Evil Gaze (dark element, can inflict confuse), Heavy Dust (earth element, can inflict Immobilize) and Sliprain (water element, can inflict Slow). Last there's the "ultimate" spell, Elementalshift, that randomly changes the elemental affinities of the target. This spell in theory is useful, but in practice it's easier to hit a neutral element and rely on the (rather high) status effect chance to pull through. Elementalists have access to the MP Absorb Reaction ability, to recover MP when hit by a spell. Elementalists have nice abilities (and you will need them to access both Summoners and Assassins), though they lack the power and AoE that Summons bring to bear; the relatively low stats don't help, and while Red Mages can lean on Doublecast and Magic Power+ to patch things up the Elementalist doesn't have this option.
FFTA2 has good and bad changes. Let's start with stats: Magic receives a bump, now second only to the Summoner; Attack is decreased, but it's not much of a problem. The main issue is that the Elementalist is now the slowest Viera Job for no discernible reason, being generally outspeed by the likes of Paladins and Defenders. They've also lost the use of robes and shields, again for no reason. OTOH the abilities are buffed a bit: the MP cost has been cut significantly (8 MP for most, 6 MP for Earth Heal and 12 MP for White Flame) and Elementalshift is gone, replaced by Thunderous Roar (lightning element, inflicts Silence). For some reason they've also lost MP Absorb. While the new spell is good, the Speed decrease and the now more limited access to equipment make the Elementalist in FFTA2 less viable in practice, so chances are they will be used only as necessary step to Assassin and Summoner or maybe as secondary Job for Red Mage if you want to try something different.
Coming up next is the Bishop, a Magic-based Bangaa Job. Yep, the physically focused Bangaas have a pure magic Job. The stats are about what you expect: low HP, good MP, low Attack, bad Defense, ok Magic, low Resistance and very low Speed. For equipment there's staves, hats, clothes and robes, standard mage here.
The spells that Bishop can cast are a varied bunch, like the other Jobs we've seen so far: there's damage with Water (AoE), Aero (AoE) and Holy (Single target), healing with Cura, support with Barrier and Dispel, status with Break (petrification, single target) and the odd spell in Judge, that can steal Judgement points from the target. There's also the always useful Half MP as Support ability and the Return Magic Reaction ability Considering that Bishops are the only caster among the Bangaa Jobs this variety is quite good, and being able to use elements outside the usual 3 is useful against monsters with unusual weknesses. Bishop suffer from the slow Speed and the low-ish Magic, at least compared to other mages (they're in line with Red Mages as far as Magic goes); also they lack some useful effects (revival, status removal) and have no good way to get them since they're the only Magic-based Job Bangaas have. Even with these limitations quite useful and provide options other Bangaa Jobs don't, so can carve out their own niche. They're a popular secondary Job on Templars, that have enough Magic to wrok with Bishop spells and appreciate the versatility those spells offer.
In Tactics A2 there are few changes. Judge is gone and replaced by Pilfer, that can steal a piece of Loot at range. To my annoyance the other spells got a cost increase, just to make sure they can't be casted 1st turn without support or things like Half MP. The fact that the Trickster is now a thing though is an indirect buff for the Bishop, since it's a fast Job with good Magic and can make good use of the Bishop's spells. This combination also gives a purpose to the Trickster's Magic, since their own abilities don't benefit from it.
And now it's time for a No Mou Job, the Sage. Now, a question: how you distinguish a caster when almost every other Job for this race is also a caster? Why, you make them also good in melee, that's how. The Sage is the closest to a tank the No Mou have: good HP, very high MP, good Attack and Defense, good Magic (though third-best for the No Mous, they're spoiled for Magic), uncharacteristically low Resistance and dead last in Speed. They can wield Maces, wear hats, clothes and robes for armor and have access to shields, the only No Mou Job to do so.
Abilities are where the Sage shines, with some we have already seen. There's Drain, there the same Water and Aero the Bishop has, there's Raise (AoE healing+revive, and damages undeads to boot) for healing, there Bio for AoE non-elemental damage and Poison, there's Blind, there's Gigaflare for heavy AoE damage and to end thing we have Ultima Blow if you want to destroy something in melee. Sages can also learn the Reflex Reaction ability, that allows them to just evade any normal attack. They have access to the Shieldbearer and Weapon Def+ Support abilities, for even more defensive power. Sages are a Job that can work just by itself; nevertheless it's usually combined with Alchemist (either as primary or secondary) for more status effects and better single target damage. Other combinations include Time Mage, so they can use Haste and patch up their slow Speed, and they can also work with White or Black Magic as secondary. Beastmaster is an option if you want to acquire Blue Magic as well.
Now, Tactics A2. Stats-wise the Sage is now weaker in Attack and Defense, compensated by having now a quite decent Resistance and a slightly better Speed (still slow, just not dead last). Abilities wise the MP costs are for the most part about the same (except for Ultima blow, that got disocunted), so get support if you want to cast. We've lost Drain and more importantly Raise, replaced by new entry Esunaga (Esuna, as AoE) and Scathe (strong range 4 linear AoE). I'd rather like Raise back, but it's not up to me. Still Sages remain a powerful Job, poised more on the caster side now.
Last Job for now is a new entry in FFTA2, the Seer. A Hume Job, the Seer could be described a something like a Red Mage that focus on mid-level magic. Seers have low HP, high MP, predictably low Attack and Defense, ok Magic, very high Resistance and very low Speed. They can equip hats, clothes and robes and use Books as weapons, in the sense that they whack people in the head with them.
Now of course we're here for the abilities. Seers pull from both the White and the Black Mage, with a couple exclusive abilities that tie everything together. Seers have access to mid tier spells: Fira, Thundara, Blizzara, Cura, Raise and Esuna; the same caveat of the Red Mage applies, so you can learn these spells as White/Black Mage and have them automatically unlocked as Seer, even before you can become a Seer. Their exclusive abilities are Recharge, a self-targeting ability that recovers 30MP, and Magic Frenzy. Magic Frenzy lets you cast a spell and follow with a physical attack to every unit targeted by the spell. Magic Frenzy works with White and Black Magic (even with healing spells), some Blue Magic (Quake and Sandstorm IIRC) and Illusions. Yeah, you can teleport-strike every enemy in the field at once. Fun stuff. Also Magic Frenzy sollows the spell with a normal attack, so Dual Wield works here. While High Magic is a very versatile skillset it's often more useful as secondary skillset, with the primary Job usually being some sort of mage (White, Black, Blue or Illusionist). This lets other mages open with Recharge and follow with spells as needed, speeding up MP accumulation and having access to offensive/healing spells and of course Magic Frenzy. A funny build is Illusionist/Seer with Dual Wield, open up with Recharge (or Ether Shell/Choco recharge/other MP gain) and spam Magic Frenzy'd Illusions for magic damage + 2 hits on each enemy. An alternative is using some strong physical Job (Paladin, usually, though Blue Mage also works), again with Dual Wield, and use Magic Frenzy as sort of AoE ranged physical attack; the magic damage here is a bonus. Fun skillset, the rest of the Job is meh.
And here you have it, casters with versatility as focus.
By my count there's 7 Jobs or so to go over, that's going to be 2 posts more likely. 'Till next time.
